Recommendations for new oscope for embedded development...

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- voltvision
  
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posted
14 years ago

Mon, May 4, 2009 5:12 PM

Howdy electonics gurus, I am currently evaluating a Tektronix MSO2024 ($5150 list, $4377 with any trade-in). I love it. I am in desperate need of a new scope anyway because there have been many, many times that my old analog scope came up short because it couldnt "grab" sporadic events like I2C bursts or one-time inductive current spikes. Also, since I do lots of motor control and LED work, the automatic "measurement" of duty cycle and frequency is sooooooo much better than counting the graticules and using a calculator just to turn around and manually enter the duty cycle in Excel for graphing a response. The MSO2024 not only calculates these things automatically, but it will automatically transfer the data to the computer via USB. You can actually set-up Excel to acquire these measurements automatically @ specific intervals.

So, is this the answer to my dreams? I saw a different forum where one of the regulars from here suggested the TPS2024 because of the 4 isolated channels. This is a good point. I have wanted floating and/ or differential measurements many times. The TPS also is battery powered and "portable".

I was originally sold on an approx $1k USB scope like the Cleverscope, but now I'm not sure. Looking back @ their site just now I see that they have a signal generator option for $300. This seems like a better deal than the $3k Tek signal generator the sales guy is showing me next monday. ($5k MSO2024 + $3k SigGen = $8k) compared to the $1500ish for the cleverscope package.....hmmm.

Any willingness to chat about this from your perspective? I do lots of embedded work of all kinds from thermocouples to audio DSP to loadcells to load dumps. From I2C to I2S to PRISM.

thx, frenchy! (Steve French)

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- Rich Webb
  
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posted
14 years ago

Mon, May 4, 2009 5:43 PM

The Instek 2204 is competitive with this for features with the exception of not having isolated channels (bummer) and runs quite a bit cheaper.

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for one source.

With the savings, you could invest in a PC-based logic analyzer for the I2C, etc. stuff. Unlike USB 'scopes, which don't, insofar as I've seen yet, have an acceptable real-time sample rate, USB analyzers can do a pretty good job of it. Scopes and logic analyzers are complementary; ya need both. Having signal interpreters for I2C, SPI, CAN, and standard async serial can be quite handy in embedded work, in addition to the "regular" duties of an analyzer. I'm fond of

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though they're overdue for a newer model.

--
Rich Webb     Norfolk, VA

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- Joerg
  
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posted
14 years ago

Mon, May 4, 2009 9:41 PM

That's the scope I am using a lot lately. Quite happy with it. The old Tektronix mainframe next to is is miffed about this, have to keep'em 5" apart ...

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Regards, Joerg

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Use another domain or send PM.

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- David L. Jones
  
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posted
14 years ago

Tue, May 5, 2009 12:55 AM

The Rigol DS1102D arguably offers better bang-per-buck:

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But it's only 100MHz compared to 200MHz of course, and slower update, but there's a huge price difference there.

See a quick review of the Rigol on my EEVblog:

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Rigol also have good low cost sig gens. Get a sperate sig gen, much more versatile.

Mixed signal scopes are handy, but you pay a price premium. You can get a seperate USB logic analyser and a higher bandwidth/memory scope without LA for less total cost. It depends on your needs and budget of course though. If it was my money, I'd probably want the most analog bandwidth and memory I can get for the money. Separate PC based USB logic analysers are really powerful and cheap.

Forget an entire PC based solution unless you are really strapped for cash, you need a good bench scope first and foremost.

For the same price as that single $5K 200MHz Tektronix you can get a 300MHz Rigol ($2K) + a 100MHz mixed signal Rigol ($1500) + a good USB logic anayser (say $500) + a good sig gen ($1K). I'd rather equipment my lab with the latter bunch of gear than a single Tek if it came down to that. Food for thought.

Dave.